Ravindra Jadeja has improved a lot as a Test player in the last two years. His bowling was always good but his bat has started doing the talking in recent years as well.
Since 2018, Jadeja has scored 693 runs at an outstanding average of 53.30 along with picking up 48 wickets at 27.68 in a total of 14 Tests.
Table: Best all-rounders in Test cricket since 2018 (Minimum 500 runs and 25 wickets)
In fact, his batting average is the best and bowling average is the third best among all-rounders who have scored at least 500 runs and taken 25 wickets in the last two years of Test cricket.
Jadeja also scored his maiden Test century during this period. His innings of 100* came against West Indies at Rajkot in 2018. Not only that, he has scored six fifties on top of that as well. Three of those — 86*, 81 and 58 — came in the overseas conditions of The Oval, Sydney and Antigua respectively.
As far as his bowling is considered, his 48 wickets have come at a strike-rate of 58.5 and a mean economy rate of 2.83 during this period. Both of these figures are almost on par with his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin who has picked up 61 wickets during this period at an economy rate and strike-rate of 2.62 and 57.8 respectively.
Jadeja was always in the Indian team because he added value with the bat along with his superb bowling skills. His batting was his secondary skill for all these years but once it started taking off recently, it has become one of his primary skills along with his bowling as well. He is now a complete 3 dimensional bowler who is equally good in each department. He gives India the flexibility to field an extra bowling option and thus it makes him a vital cog of the Test side.
Written by : Prasenjit Dey
